1. Field of the Invention
The present invention includes embodiments directed to systems and methods for facilitating patient data collection and the preparation of reports from collected data, and more particularly, to a system and method for automating patient data collection and preparing compliant reports for Social Security disability benefits during one appointment event.
2. Background of the Related Art
Physicians typically see large amounts of patients daily with diverse issues. In order to save time, physicians rely on information obtained through questionnaires which can be administered by a nurse or other trained worker. However, the time of a trained worker is also valuable; time spent on such tasks makes the individual unavailable to perform other specialized tasks which may be more pressing.
Thus, many of these questionnaires have been adapted to be filled in by the patient. However, this approach has its drawbacks. For example, if the patient completes the questionnaire alone, he or she may overlook or ignore some of the questions. Also, if the patient usually reads in a foreign language or has vision problems, he or she may have trouble completing the questionnaire alone.
Even if a questionnaire is fully and properly filled out, tallying of the patient's answers to determine which follow-up questions are needed is a time-consuming and tedious task. Staff or other trained workers may also inadvertently introduce errors or forget to ask for further information when the questionnaire is not properly filled out.
Therefore, patient information is often obtained from a variety of sources, including patient questionnaires, the worker's written notes and the professional's verbal or written notes taken during the examination. If the information is to be used to submit an application for benefits or governmental assistance, the transcribing of notes into the appropriate format for submission is time-consuming, tedious and often introduces the potential for errors. In many cases, there is a time limit by which reports must be submitted after a patient is seen by a professional. Ultimately, the patient may suffer from a delay in receiving benefits while the application is being completed, or because the application was not completed correctly, or not completed correctly in a timely manner.
For example, many psychologists that assess disability claimants use direct interviews to collect patient data. The dominant practice is to collect all necessary data with hand-written notes during a lengthy interview. These notes, along with any background records, are mentally organized, verbally recorded and sent to a third party for transcription. This approach ties up the psychologist during the entire data collection process and requires the doctor to process the same information, sometimes four times or more (i.e., writing the original notes, organizing these notes, speaking results into a recording device for use by a transcriber, and finally proof-reading the report or application—hopefully only once). Furthermore, transcription services are expensive and delay the completion of the report while the information is being transcribed.
Therefore, there is a great need for a system and method which facilitates reliable collection of data and provides further queries as necessary to ultimately obtain all of the requisite information during one appointment to generate a report or application for benefits in a format which satisfies the applicable standards prior to the end of the appointment.